Improved Constructions of Linear Codes for Insertions and Deletions

Abstract

In this work, we study linear error-correcting codes against adversarial insertion-deletion (indel) errors. While most constructions for the indel model are nonlinear, linear codes offer compact representations, efficient encoding, and decoding algorithms, making them highly desirable. A key challenge in this area is achieving rates close to the half-Singleton bound for efficient linear codes over finite fields. We improve upon previous results by constructing explicit codes over \(\mathbb{F}_{q^2}\), linear over \(\mathbb{F}_q\), with rate \(1/2 - \delta - \varepsilon\) that can efficiently correct a \(\delta\)-fraction of indel errors, where \(q = O(\varepsilon^{-4})\). Additionally, we construct fully linear codes over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) with rate \(1/2 - 2\sqrt{\delta} - \varepsilon\) that can also efficiently correct \(\delta\)-fraction of indels. These results significantly advance the study of linear codes for the indel model, bringing them closer to the theoretical half-Singleton bound. We also generalize the half-Singleton bound, for every code \(C \subseteq \mathbb{F}^n\) linear over \(\mathbb{E} \subset \mathbb{F}\) a subfield of $\mathbb{F}$, such that \(C\) has the ability to correct \(\delta\)-fraction of indels, the rate is bounded by $(1-\delta)/2$.